Variable annuity contracts are a known product offered by life insurance companies in the U.S. and in foreign countries, and may function as an investment vehicle. Variable annuity contracts have proved to be particularly attractive in Japan. One known feature of some variable annuity contracts is a guaranteed minimum accumulated benefit (GMAB). According to this feature, if the policyholder allows the contract to remain in force through its entire intended deferral period to maturity, the issuer of the contract agrees that the minimum payout of the contract at maturity is guaranteed to be at least a minimum amount. In some variable annuity contracts, the minimum amount is equal to the amount originally invested in the contract. The GMAB feature has proved to be attractive to Japanese investors, who typically are very concerned with preservation of capital, but who also may be interested in an opportunity to achieve some asset appreciation. Some variable annuity contracts allow the policyholder to set a growth target for the contract and to lock in the resulting profit if the growth target is reached.
The value of a variable annuity contract may vary according to the value of a special account that underlies a group of variable annuity contracts issued by the issuer. Conventionally, a large part of the assets in the special account are invested in an index bond fund. The present inventors have now recognized that an alternative investment approach may allow for issuance of GMAB variable annuity accounts with more favorable features that may be more attractive to potential investors than conventional GMAB variable annuity contracts.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a GMAB variable annuity contract management apparatus, a GMAB variable annuity contract management method, a GMAB variable annuity contract management program, and a computer-readable recording medium for recording the GMAB variable annuity contract management program, for managing a GMAB variable annuity contract with an improved investment strategy for a special account that underlies an issue of GMAB variable annuity contracts.